School board nixes idea of engagement committees
OLIVER — Okanagan Similkameen School District 53 trustees have denied a suggestion by the Town of Osoyoos to strike two committees designed to improve engagement. At Wednesday’s public meeting, trustees revisited committee structure and then approved the template for four committees, making changes to none. The board had earlier asked for public input on committee structure and the Town of Osoyoos responded with a two-page letter signed by mayor Sue McKortoff. In the letter, the mayor recommended striking both a local and regional inter-governmental committee.
The mayor also recommended the board: “Be accountable to its ownership for accomplishment of its obligations, and involve students, parents, staff, local government councils and community members in monitoring current performance and setting future direction.”
Trustee Rachel Allenbrand, the chair of the board’s policy committee, said suggestions by the town will be taken into consideration, but will not be written into policy.
Board chairwoman Marieze Tarr said trustees already meet annually with municipal leaders from within their district as well as Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen rural directors and the Osoyoos Indian Band.
“We are a small board and we already have quite a few committees that we (trustees) sit on,” Tarr said. “We have made it our commitment to be transparent, to share all of the information possible with our communities, and we’ve gone to every community and shared our budget, enrollment, and challenges and we will continue to do so.”
At Wednesday’s meeting, the gallery of five included McKortoff and Osoyoos councillor Mike Campol and Oliver town councillor Larry Schwartzenberger.
“We’d be happy to meet with the town and councillors whenever,” Allenbrand said.
“We are excited to have them coming out to our board meetings and open forums and we invited them to the school planning session at the beginning of the year.”
During public question period, Campol noted being told by trustees during last year’s school closure hearings that “there was a lack of engagement,” between the Town of Osoyoos and school district.
“We were caught off guard to a situation that happened last year,” he said in reference to the closure of Osoyoos Secondary School, which was saved on June 30 with new-found funding by the province.
Town of Osoyoos cited need for both local and regional intergovernmental committee
“If funding is ongoing and enrollment steadies or increases, can we be assured there will be no further efforts to close the high school based on the secondary reason (quality of education) we were told for closing it?” Tarr said school closures are not on anyone’s radar at the moment but warned,
“None of us has a crystal ball that can see what’s going to happen in the future. Trustees are not looking at the school closure process. There was a huge pushback from the (Osoyoos) community saying they want their school open and that was very important for them and that is why the school is open.”